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LITTLE ROCK -- Bentonville trailed Springdale Har-Ber by two points to start the final day of the Class 6A-7A state high school wrestling tournament, but the Tigers were celebrating atop the medal stand at the end Saturday evening at the Jack Stephens Center. Cash Jones and Luke Brandon were Bentonville's only champions, but the Tigers racked up 256 points with 11 wrestlers earning medals to easily outdistance second-place Har-ber's 231.5. It's the third state title in nine years for Bentonville, which also finished second twice and won two more state titles in 2007 and 2008 before the sport was sanctioned by the Arkansas Activities Association. It also capped a big three-week run for the Tigers, who also won the Dual State title two weeks ago and claimed the Big West Conference crown last weekend. Har-Ber finished the first day with a huge quarterfinal round on Friday, putting 11 into the semifinals. But Bentonville responded to lead by a point after the semifinal round Saturday morning and by 14 going into the final round. Bentonville coach James Rappe loved the way his team performed on the final day. "We kept our composure and knew what we had to do and at the end of the day we had all those consolation matches," Rappe said. "We got knocked around early in the championship round, didn't have quite as many as we wanted in the championship semis. But we came back and the kids we needed to compete on the backside did for us and did well. "That's a tough situation watching them surge ahead. But my kids, they never doubted what they were capable of. We knew what we were capable of doing. We just had to come in and go to work." Searcy pushed Har-Ber late in the team race, but ended up third with 226.5 points, while Rogers Heritage was a distant fourth (159.5). Jones (69-4) claimed the state title at 145 pounds with a decisive 19-4 technical fall over Russellville's Logan Sloss, the defending state champion at 138. The junior team captain wasn't able to compete in the state tournament a year ago because of an injury, but he sure enjoyed winning his second individual state title, but first team title. "It's awesome," Jones said. "The bond we have is not like any other team I've been on before. It's fantastic. I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else. We knew if we just went out there and did our jobs we could take it and that's what we did," Jones said. " Har-Ber coach Eric Nolan credited Bentonville, but was also pleased with his team's effort. "Bentonville's a great team," Nolan said. "They deserved to win. They've been out in front of us all year. That's a credit to their coaches and their kids. I'm proud of my kids We had a great round last night. Sometimes that's how wrestling is. You've got the highs and you've got those lows as well. We have all but three of our starters coming back next year and hopefully that just makes us better for the future." Sophomore Brendan Davis (41-5) was Har-Ber's lone champion --winning at 113, but the Wildcats medaled 11 wrestlers.

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BENTONVILLE CLAIMS STATE TITLE

PAUL BOYD

NWA Democrat Gazette | 2/19/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Benjamin Krain